The Curse Conduit
Chapter 25

Elizabeth, Derek and Uriah walked down the street getting a few odd looks from people as they did. Elizabeth pulled on her clothes knowing that it was their appearance that brought the stares. She was dressed casually in a pale blue t shirt with a vee neck, a pair of jeans and Reeboks. Derek was dressed in jeans and a t –shirt under a white long sleeved shirt but he was also wearing beads around his neck, on his wrist and two gold earrings, one in each ear. Uriah was dressed in figure hugging dark blue jeans, a new black Harley Davidson t shirt and black cowboy boots that had been polished to within an inch of their life.

Elizabeth tried to make herself smaller by walking between the two men. “I think we need to change our clothes before we get arrested.”

Derek was about to answer when Elizabeth stopped walking. Both men looked back at her. “I know this place. Bethie lives down here.”

Uriah and Derek looked to where she was pointing. Uriah taking a step forward. “Number 35 Chatham Road. Left down here and then right. It’s the fourth door on the right.”

Derek was amazed. “How do you know the number? How could you possibly know where we are?”

Uriah looked at Derek. “You mean you don’t know. All the times I have walked down these streets in my dreams. They look exactly the same. Don’t you recognise anything Derek?”

Derek looked down the street. He did and things were far more vivid than he wanted them to be. It scared him. “Yes I do Uriah, it’s just.”

Uriah knew how his friend felt; there was no need for him to finish his sentence.

“Well maybe Bethie can give me some clothes to wear.” Elizabeth’s idea got their attention.

Derek put his hands on his hips. “And what do you expect to do just walk up and knock on the door and introduce ourselves?”

Elizabeth began to walk. “Got a better idea?”

Both men looked at each other and then looked at Elizabeth as she walked off and ran the short distance to catch up with her.

Standing at the front door to Bethie’s house Elizabeth was not so sure about her little plan.

“Well we can’t just stand here.” Uriah went to knock on the door when Derek stopped him.

“Wait!” He began to take off his beads and earrings stuffing them into his pocket. “What are we going to say?”

“Hello.” With that Uriah did knock on the door, Elizabeth gasped and shrunk behind the two men and Derek just stared at his friend not believing he had actually said what he had said.

As the door opened they were looking at Bethie, she was the spitting image of Elizabeth. Shoulder to shoulder both men had been rendered numb.

She smiled and her whole face lit up. “Danny, what a nice surprise. I wasn’t expecting you two until later.”

Before Derek could stop her she lent in and gave him a kiss. After a few seconds she pulled back with a strange look on her face. His kiss had felt wrong. “What’s the matter Danny?”

Derek went to answer but they all heard Elizabeth from behind them. “Maybe I should explain.” She stepped between the two men placing herself in front of Bethie. It was a shock for both women, like looking into a mirror. They could all see the horror in Bethie’s eyes and the colour drain from her face.

Elizabeth held out her hand. “My name’s Elizabeth. I think we might be related.”

That was all Bethie heard before she collapsed. Uriah jumping forward to catch her before she fell all the way to the ground. He swept her up in his arms and walked into the house like he knew where he was going. And indeed he did, they all did. He took her into the lounge room and placed her on the sofa. Kneeling beside her and brushing the hair away from her face as Elizabeth ran to the kitchen to get a damp cloth. Derek could not take his eyes off her. She was real, until this point he had been trying to convince himself that he had got it all wrong, he was still dreaming. But she was real, which meant everything else was real. His voice was quiet when he spoke. “They could be twins. Uriah, they look so much alike.”

Uriah remained silent just looking down into Bethie’s face. Seeing her only made his heart hurt even more. He was looking into the face of the woman he loved, yet this was not the same person. He was looking into the face of the women Urian loved and neither one of them could ever let it be known. Uriah knew this was the truth. Uri’s king had told him as much about Uri’s love for Beth-Elena. Uriah knew this was the connection he had with his kin. A love that could never be spoken of. He wondered if Urian felt the same way about Bethie as he did about Elizabeth.

Elizabeth returned with a damp cloth. As she placed it on Bethie’s forehead she moaned a little and began to come to. “Danny?”

Uriah spoke. “No it’s...” He did not get to finish

Bethie spoke as she opened her eyes and swore that she was looking into the face of her dear friend Urian but something was not right. “Ian?”

Uriah smiled softly and helped her sit up. “No, my name is Uriah.”

Her eyes flew to Derek. “You’re not Danny!”

All Derek could do was shake his head.

They could see that she was getting upset when Elizabeth sat next to her and took her hand. “I know this is all very scary. Trust me I know. I am sitting here next to you and I can hardly believe it. But I promise we are not here to hurt you.”

Bethie’s voice was a little shaky. “I’m not dreaming this time am I?”

The all looked at each other a little shocked as Elizabeth continued. “You dream. I mean.”

Bethie gave her a small smile and squeezed her hand. “I have dreamt of you. All of you. I just thought it was my mind. You know Danny and Derek. I just thought you were the same person. I was just dreaming but.” Elizabeth could feel her start to tremble again. “Why are you here? How did you get here?”

Derek came to kneel next to Uriah and took Bethie’s other hand. “We are not here to hurt you Bethie.”

She smiled a little. “You sound different. You don’t sound like my Danny. You look like him but you don’t sound like him.” She turned her attention to Uriah. “You sound like Ian, Urian though and you look like him” Then she looked at Elizabeth. “We are related?”

“I guess. Now how about a nice cup of tea for you?”

Bethie nodded.

The four had been sitting around the kitchen table having consumed several cups of tea each as they tried to explain their appearance to Bethie and she explained what she had been dreaming. Her dreams had not started until she had married Danny three months before. Uriah and Derek had an uncomfortable feeling, giving each other a knowing look. It meant that they had little time to fix things. According to the information they had found Bethie and Danny had only been married four months before he died.

Bethie sighed. “I really don’t understand. If this is a curse and you have to stop it from ever starting why you are here and not back when it all first began? Don’t get me wrong; knowing you are here to save my Danny. It scares the hell out of me but I am glad that you came. Those dreams were beginning to worry me. I thought I was going to have to tell Danny.”

Again Derek and Uriah and Elizabeth shuffled a little in their seats but it was Elizabeth who took up the challenge to see just how much Bethie actually knew of the whole situation. “So Danny knows nothing of your dreams?”

Bethie shook her head.

“And I am guessing he has not told you about his own?”

The stunned look that Bethie gave them all was their answer and again she went a little pale. Both Derek and Uriah where ready to jump into action should she faint again. Her voice quaked as she spoke. “You mean that Danny has dreamt about you as well?”

They all nodded and Uriah took her hand across the table. “He dreams about us and we dream about him.” He wanted so much to tell her everything they knew about each other but he pulled back. “Urian dreams as well.” He felt her grip get tighter. “They haven’t told you anything have they?” Bethie shook her head and he saw a tear appear. “If I was here I would probably want to protect you also. I am sorry we have invaded your life like this Bethie truly I am.”

“Can you stop it? I mean. I don’t want to lose Danny.”

Derek watched the interaction between Uriah and Bethie and if he didn’t know better he would have thought that Uriah had feelings for her that ran much deeper than just being worried about her. He reached out his hand to Elizabeth and smiled at her. “We will do everything we can.”

Elizabeth squeezed his hand just as they heard the front door open and someone call.

Bethie rose from the table. “Well this is certainly going to be interesting. That will be Danny and Ian.”

She left the others not sure how she was going to explain her guests to her husband and his best friend.

Danny greeted her with one of his big smiles and a kiss, a kiss that Bethie was familiar with. As much as these two men looked like each other, they were different. This was her Danny. She gave him an extra hug before receiving her normal kiss on the cheek from Urian.

Danny was excited about something. “You’re never going to guess what happened on the base today.”

Bethie smiled as she tried to slow their pace giving her a chance to think of how to introduce the others. “Mmm let me see, you caused that poor colonel of yours more grief?”

Urian laughed. “She knows you too well.”

Danny laughed. “Well I certainly got into enough trouble but it wasn’t me this time. Someone else got to the old man, stole my thunder. But the Colonel swears it was me.”

Urian cleared his throat. “Excuse me. He thinks it was us.” He pointed to Bethie. “All of us.”

“Oh.” Bethie looked at them just before they walked into the kitchen. “I think I may know the answer to that.”

Danny and Urian stopped dead at the kitchen door as they saw Bethie’s guests.

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